One (via the Guardian):
Private companies will be running large parts of the UK’s… police… service within five years, according to the world’s biggest security firm.
David Taylor-Smith, the head of… G4S… for the UK and Africa, said he expected police forces across the country to sign up to similar deals to those on the table in the… West Midlands and Surrey, which could result in private companies taking responsibility for duties ranging from investigating crimes to transporting suspects and managing intelligence.
The prediction comes as it emerged that 10 more police forces were considering outsourcing deals that would see services, such as running police cells and operating IT, run by private firms.
Taylor-Smith, whose company is in the running for the …£1.5bn contract with West Midlands and Surrey police, said he expected forces across the country to have taken similar steps within five years . “For most members of the public what they will see is the same or better policing and they really don’t care who is running the fleet, the payroll or the firearms licensing – they don’t really care,” he said.
Two (via Pro Publica):
The growth of the private detention industry has long been a subject of scrutiny. A recent… eight-part series in the New Orleans Times-Picayune… chronicled how more than half of Louisiana’s 40,000 inmates are housed in prisons run by sheriffs or private companies as part of a broader financial incentive scheme. The detention business goes beyond just criminal prisoners.
As a Huffington Post investigation pointed out last month,… nearly half of all immigrant detainees… are now held in privately run detention facilities. Just this week, the New York Times… delved into lax oversight… at industrial-sized but privately run halfway houses in New Jersey.